Small Carnivores in UK collections

Following the very interesting exchange on the RSCC thread I thought it might be interesting to find out which small carnivore exhibits zoo chatters are finding particularly interesting around the UK at the moment?

Obviously the plethora of meerkat and coati exhibits are somewhat boring for those of us who enjoy the more unusual species that are on offer.

It goes without saying that the Owston's Civet enclosures at Shaldon and Newquay are fantastic, both in terms of displaying a very odd little species and displaying it well - and of course Newquay also has a damn nice mixed exhibit showing Narrow-striped Boky and Crowned Lemur.

However my favorite small carnivore exhibit in the UK is no longer extant, to use rather appropriate parlance - I really enjoyed the enclosure at Edinburgh which used to hold Marbled Polecat, which permitted both indoor and outdoor viewing and within which I never failed to view the taxon, provided I had the patience that all small carnivore exhibits require.

Then the zoo chose to go back into meerkats and turfed the Marbled Polecat out of the enclosure so they could use it to quarantine the meerkats whilst still having them onshow, moving the odder taxon into a different enclosure with much worse viewing ability..... and not long after that did away with the species entirely

Well I'll concede that as it does not fall into the phylogeny of the Carnivora, but it is a small mammal that is a carnivore!!

I quite like some of the Pine Marten enclosures with the linking tunnels at the British Wildlife Centre. They have a fair few small carnivores there - Stoats & Weasels, Polecats, European Otters, Badgers - more indeginous mustelids than you can shake a stick at!

I am very intrigued by the new walk-thru pallas cat exhibit at Port Lympne. I have not seen it myself, as my two visits to the park were in years prior to this. But it seems to be a great design from what I can tell.

It's not a true walkthrough enclosure, per se - it is akin to the Eagle Owl, Carpathian Lynx and Kite enclosures at Zoo Magdeburg insofar as much as the enclosure is viewed from within a small house, with only a chest high barrier between the public and the animals.

It's not a true walkthrough enclosure, per se - it is akin to the Eagle Owl, Carpathian Lynx and Kite enclosures at Zoo Magdeburg insofar as much as the enclosure is viewed from within a small house, with only a chest high barrier between the public and the animals.